Environmental disaster as floods hit Pakistan

Pakistan has been hit by an environmental disaster after floods killed more than 1,000 people in the last week.

The country's north-west region has been affected the most after monsoon rains turned torrential.

According to the UN World Health Organisation, there are 27,000 people who are still waiting to be rescued from areas particularly damaged by the floods.

Lt-Gen Nadeem Ahmed, chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, said that 2.5 million people "have been displaced by floods across the country", when speaking to the media earlier this week.

The rains, which stopped on Sunday, are an indication of rising water levels in the area.

Environmental analysis is likely to explain the increase in floods and swollen rivers across the region as a result of climate change, after dangerous storms have also hit other areas in Asia in recent months.

In June, more than 10 million people were affected by storms and mud slides in the southern provinces of China.

Posted by Joseph Hutton